Data management system and method

ABSTRACT

A method and computing system for receiving an indication of a first photo being uploaded to a web-based resource. A first capture date is determined for the first photo. A first object is associated with the first photo. The first object is positioned within a graphical representation of a calendar based, at least in part, upon the first capture date.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure relates to the uploading of photographs and, moreparticularly, to the displaying of uploaded photographs in a temporalfashion.

BACKGROUND

Included within the Google+ social network is the ability to uploadphotographs to the social network for storage and sharing. For example,the Google+ social network allows users to automatically uploadphotographs as they are taken with a digital camera (included within acell phone) to private photo albums included within the Google+ socialnetwork so that they may be shared at a later date.

Unfortunately, when uploading photographs to social networks, they areoften uploaded in batches, in which hundreds of photographs aresimultaneously uploaded to the social network and placed into a commonalbum. This may make it very difficult to locate specific photographs ata later date, as there is no temporal aspect to the upload.

SUMMARY OF DISCLOSURE

In one implementation, a computer-implemented method includes receivingan indication of a first photo being uploaded to a web-based resource. Afirst capture date is determined for the first photo. A first object isassociated with the first photo. The first object is positioned within agraphical representation of a calendar based, at least in part, upon thefirst capture date. An indication of a second photo being uploaded tothe web-based resource is received. A second capture date is determinedfor the second photo. A second object is associated with the secondphoto. The second object is positioned, with respect to the firstobject, within the graphical representation of the calendar based, atleast in part, upon the second capture date.

In another implementation, a computer-implemented method includesreceiving an indication of a first photo being uploaded to a web-basedresource. A first capture date is determined for the first photo. Afirst object is associated with the first photo. The first object ispositioned within a graphical representation of a calendar based, atleast in part, upon the first capture date.

One or more of the following features may be included. The first objectmay be a text-based first object. The first object may be a thumbnail.

A first capture time may be determined for the first photo. Positioningthe first object within a graphical representation of a calendar based,at least in part, upon the first capture date may include positioningthe first object within the graphical representation of the calendarbased, at least in part, upon the first capture date and the firstcapture time.

An indication of a second photo being uploaded to the web-based resourcemay be received. A second capture date may be determined for the secondphoto. A second object may be associated with the second photo. Thesecond object may be positioned, with respect to the first object,within the graphical representation of the calendar based, at least inpart, upon the second capture date.

A second capture time may be determined for the second photo.Positioning the second object, with respect to the first object, withinthe graphical representation of the calendar based, at least in part,upon the second capture date may include positioning the second object,with respect to the first object, within the graphical representation ofthe calendar based, at least in part, upon the second capture date andthe second capture time.

In another implementation, a computing system includes a processor andmemory configured to perform operations including receiving anindication of a first photo being uploaded to a web-based resource. Afirst capture date is determined for the first photo. A first object isassociated with the first photo. The first object is positioned within agraphical representation of a calendar based, at least in part, upon thefirst capture date.

One or more of the following features may be included. The first objectmay be a text-based first object. The first object may be a thumbnail.

A first capture time may be determined for the first photo. Positioningthe first object within a graphical representation of a calendar based,at least in part, upon the first capture date may include positioningthe first object within the graphical representation of the calendarbased, at least in part, upon the first capture date and the firstcapture time.

An indication of a second photo being uploaded to the web-based resourcemay be received. A second capture date may be determined for the secondphoto. A second object may be associated with the second photo. Thesecond object may be positioned, with respect to the first object,within the graphical representation of the calendar based, at least inpart, upon the second capture date.

A second capture time may be determined for the second photo.Positioning the second object, with respect to the first object, withinthe graphical representation of the calendar based, at least in part,upon the second capture date may include positioning the second object,with respect to the first object, within the graphical representation ofthe calendar based, at least in part, upon the second capture date andthe second capture time.

The details of one or more implementations are set forth in theaccompanying drawings and the description below. Other features andadvantages will become apparent from the description, the drawings, andthe claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic view of a distributed computing networkincluding a computing device that executes a data management processaccording to an implementation of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of the data management process of FIG. 1 accordingto an implementation of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is diagrammatic view of a display screen rendered by the datamanagement process of FIG. 1 according to an implementation of thepresent disclosure; and

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic view of the computing device of FIG. 1according to an implementation of the present disclosure.

Like reference symbols in the various drawings indicate like elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED IMPLEMENTATIONS

In FIGS. 1 & 2, there is shown data management process 10. Datamanagement process 10 may be implemented as a server-side process, aclient-side process, or a hybrid server-side/client-side process. Forexample, data management process 10 may be implemented as a purelyserver-side process via data management process 10 s. Alternatively,data management process 10 may be implemented as a purely client-sideprocess via one or more of client-side application 10 c 1, client-sideapplication 10 c 2, client-side application 10 c 3, and client-sideapplication 10 c 4. Alternatively still, data management process 10 maybe implemented as a hybrid server-side/client-side process via datamanagement process 10 s in combination with one or more of client-sideapplication 10 c 1, client-side application 10 c 2, client-sideapplication 10 c 3, and client-side application 10 c 4. Accordingly,data management process 10 as used in this disclosure may include anycombination of data management process 10 s, client-side application 10c 1, client-side application 10 c 2, client-side application 10 c 3, andclient-side application 10 c 4.

As will be discussed below in greater detail, data management process 10may receive 100 an indication of a first photo being uploaded to aweb-based resource. A first capture date may be determined 102 for thefirst photo. A first object may be associated 104 with the first photo.The first object may be positioned 106 within a graphical representationof a calendar based, at least in part, upon the first capture date.

Data management process 10 s may be a server application and may resideon and may be executed by computing device 12, which may be connected tonetwork 14 (e.g., the Internet or a local area network). Examples ofcomputing device 12 may include, but are not limited to: a personalcomputer, a laptop computer, a personal digital assistant, adata-enabled cellular telephone, a notebook computer, a television withone or more processors embedded therein or coupled thereto, a servercomputer, a series of server computers, a mini computer, a mainframecomputer, or a dedicated network device.

The instruction sets and subroutines of data management process 10 s,which may be stored on storage device 16 coupled to computing device 12,may be executed by one or more processors (not shown) and one or morememory architectures (not shown) included within computing device 12.Examples of storage device 16 may include but are not limited to: a harddisk drive; a tape drive; an optical drive; a RAID device; a randomaccess memory (RAM); a read-only memory (ROM); and all forms of flashmemory storage devices.

Network 14 may be connected to one or more secondary networks (e.g.,network 18), examples of which may include but are not limited to: alocal area network; a wide area network; or an intranet, for example.

Examples of client-side applications 10 c 1, 10 c 2, 10 c 3, 10 c 4 mayinclude but are not limited to a web browser, a game console userinterface, or a specialized application (e.g., an application running one.g., the Android™ platform or the iPhone™ platform). The instructionsets and subroutines of client-side applications 10 c 1, 10 c 2, 10 c 3,10 c 4, which may be stored on storage devices 20, 22, 24, 26(respectively) coupled to client electronic devices 28, 30, 32, 34(respectively), may be executed by one or more processors (not shown)and one or more memory architectures (not shown) incorporated intoclient electronic devices 28, 30, 32, 34 (respectively). Examples ofstorage devices 20, 22, 24, 26 may include but are not limited to: harddisk drives; tape drives; optical drives; RAID devices; random accessmemories (RAM); read-only memories (ROM), and all forms of flash memorystorage devices.

Examples of client electronic devices 28, 30, 32, 34 may include, butare not limited to, data-enabled, cellular telephone 28, laptop computer30, personal digital assistant 32, personal computer 34, a notebookcomputer (not shown), a server computer (not shown), a gaming console(not shown), and a dedicated network device (not shown). Clientelectronic devices 28, 30, 32, 34 may each execute an operating system,examples of which may include but are not limited to Microsoft Windows™,Android™, WebOS™, iOS™, Redhat Linux™, or a custom operating system.

Users 36, 38, 40, 42 may access data management process 10 directlythrough network 14 or through secondary network 18. Further, datamanagement process 10 may be connected to network 14 through secondarynetwork 18, as illustrated with link line 44.

The various client electronic devices (e.g., client electronic devices28, 30, 32, 34) may be directly or indirectly coupled to network 14 (ornetwork 18). For example, data-enabled, cellular telephone 28 and laptopcomputer 30 are shown wirelessly coupled to network 14 via wirelesscommunication channels 44, 46 (respectively) established betweendata-enabled, cellular telephone 28, laptop computer 30 (respectively)and cellular network/bridge 48, which is shown directly coupled tonetwork 14. Further, personal digital assistant 32 is shown wirelesslycoupled to network 14 via wireless communication channel 50 establishedbetween personal digital assistant 32 and wireless access point (i.e.,WAP) 52, which is shown directly coupled to network 14. Additionally,personal computer 34 is shown directly coupled to network 18 via ahardwired network connection.

WAP 52 may be, for example, an IEEE 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n,Wi-Fi, and/or Bluetooth device that is capable of establishing wirelesscommunication channel 50 between personal digital assistant 32 and WAP52. As is known in the art, IEEE 802.11x specifications may use Ethernetprotocol and carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance(i.e., CSMA/CA) for path sharing. The various 802.11x specifications mayuse phase-shift keying (i.e., PSK) modulation or complementary codekeying (i.e., CCK) modulation, for example. As is known in the art,Bluetooth is a telecommunications industry specification that allowse.g., mobile phones, computers, and personal digital assistants to beinterconnected using a short-range wireless connection.

Data management process 10 may be included within, executed within, or aportion of social network 54. The phrase social network may be used torefer to a group of technologies (e.g. web-based and mobiletechnologies) that allow for users to engage in a quasi-real-time,interactive dialogue.

For illustrative purposes, assume that data-enabled, cellular telephone28 includes a digital camera and that user 36 uses data-enabled,cellular telephone 28 to take photographs. Further assume that user 36is a user of social network 54 and uploads his photographs to socialnetwork 54.

While the following discussion is going to be directed to user 36uploading photographs to social network 54 (e.g., Google+™), this is forillustrative purposes only and is not intended to be a limitation ofthis disclosure, as other configurations are possible and are consideredto be within the scope of this disclosure and the related claims. Forexample, user 36 may upload photographs to any web-based resource, suchas an online photo repository (e.g., Picasa™) or an online storagesystem (e.g., Dropbox™).

Assume for illustrative purposes that user 36 takes a digital photograph(e.g., digital photograph 56) using data-enabled, cellular telephone 28and uploads digital photograph 56 to social network 54. The process ofuploading digital photograph 56 to social network 54 may be either amanual process or an automated process. For example, after takingdigital photograph 56, user 36 may need (with a manual process) toselect the photo and select e.g. upload to social network 54.Alternatively, after taking digital photograph 56, the photograph may beautomatically uploaded (with an automated process) to social network 54.

Upon digital photograph 56 being uploaded to social network 54, datamanagement process 10 may receive 100 an indication (e.g. indication 58)of a first photo (e.g. first digital photograph 56) being uploaded to aweb-based resource (e.g. social network 54). For example, upon receivingfirst digital photograph 56, social network 54 may generate indication58, which may be provided to data management process 10.

Data management process 10 may determine 102 a first capture date forthe first photo (e.g. first digital photograph 56). For example, uponreceiving indication 58, data management process 10 may determine 102the date (e.g. first capture date) on which digital photograph 56 wastaken. This first capture date may be defined within indication 58 ormay require data management process 10 to examine metadata (not shown)associated with first digital photograph 56.

Referring also to FIG. 3, data management process 10 may associate 104 afirst object (e.g. first object 150) with the first photo (e.g. firstdigital photograph 56). Examples of first object 150 may include but arenot limited to a text-based first object or a thumbnail of first digitalphotograph 56. An example of such a text-based first object may includethe name of first digital photograph 56. An example of such a thumbnailmay include a miniaturized version of first digital photograph 56.

Data management process 10 may position 106 first object 150 withingraphical representation 152 of a calendar (e.g., utilized/availablewithin social network 54) based, at least in part, upon the firstcapture date. For example, assume that user 36 is attending a flowershow on 13 Oct. 2012 and, during the course of the flower show, user 36takes first digital photograph 56 (e.g. a picture of a flower) anduploads the same to social network 54. Data management process 10 maydetermine 102 a first capture date for first digital photograph 56(which in this example is 13 Oct. 2012) and may associate 104 firstdigital photograph 56 with first object 150 (which in this example is athumbnail of first digital photograph 56). As first digital photograph56 was taken on 13 Oct. 2012, data management process 10 may position106 first object 150 within graphical representation 152 of a calendarfor 13 Oct. 2012.

Data management process 10 may also determine 108 a first capture timefor the first photo (e.g. first digital photograph 56). For example,assume that first digital photograph 56 was taken at 9:00 AM. This firstcapture time may be defined within indication 58 or may require datamanagement process 10 to examine metadata associated with first digitalphotograph 56.

If such a first capture time is available for e.g. first digitalphotograph 56, when positioning 106 first object 150 within graphicalrepresentation 152 of the calendar, data management process 10 mayposition 110 first object 150 within graphical representation 152 of thecalendar based, at least in part, upon the first capture date and thefirst capture time. Accordingly, first object 150 may be positionedproximate the 9:00 AM timeline indicator within graphical representation152 of the calendar. Accordingly, by reviewing graphical representation152 of the calendar, user 36 may quickly be able to locate photos thatwere taken on 13 Oct. 2012 (and the time that each photo was taken).

Assume for illustrative purposes that data management process 10receives 112 an indication (e.g., indication 62) of a second photo (e.g.second digital photograph 60) being uploaded to the web-based resource(e.g. social network 54). Accordingly, data management process 10 maydetermine 114 a second capture date for the second photo (e.g. seconddigital photograph 60) and may associate 116 a second object (e.g.second object 154) with second digital photograph 60.

Continuing with the above-stated example, assume that user 36 takessecond digital photograph 60 (e.g. another picture of a flower) anduploads the same to social network 54. Data management process 10 maydetermine 114 a second capture date for second digital photograph 60(which in this example is also 13 Oct. 2012) and may associate 116second digital photograph 60 with second object 154 (which in thisexample is a thumbnail of second digital photograph 60).

Data management process 10 may position 118 second object 154, withrespect to first object 150, within graphical representation 152 of thecalendar based, at least in part, upon the second capture date. Assecond digital photograph 60 was taken on 13 Oct. 2012, data managementprocess 10 may position 118 second object 154 within graphicalrepresentation 152 of a calendar for 13 Oct. 2012.

Data management process 10 may also determine 120 a second capture timefor the second photo (e.g. second digital photograph 60). For example,assume that second digital photograph 60 was taken at 10:30 AM. Thissecond capture time may be defined within indication 62 or may requiredata management process 10 to examine metadata associated with seconddigital photograph 60.

If such a second capture time is available for e.g. second digitalphotograph 60, when positioning 118 second object 154 within graphicalrepresentation 152 of the calendar, data management process 10 mayposition 122 second object 154, with respect to first object 150, withingraphical representation 152 of the calendar based, at least in part,upon the second capture date and the second capture time. Accordingly,second object 154 may be positioned proximate the 10:30 AM timelineindicator within graphical representation 152 of the calendar.Accordingly, by reviewing graphical representation 152 of the calendar,user 36 may quickly be able to locate photos that were taken on 13 Oct.2012 (and the time that each photo was taken). Additionally, user 36 mayeasily determine that second digital photograph 60 was taken 90 minutesafter first digital photograph 56.

As is known in the art, users of social network 54 (e.g., Google+™) maybe able to schedule events, wherein an event is a group activity inwhich multiple users of the social network may get together for aspecific purpose. Examples of such events may include but are notlimited to: a group of friends getting together for drinks, severalpeople going to a baseball game together, an end of summer party at aperson's house, and a concert at a local arena. Additionally, users maybe able to check into such events and upload photos to social network 54that were taken at/associated with such events.

While the above discussion concerns Google+™, this is for illustrativepurposes only and is not intended to be a limitation of this disclosure.For example, event scheduling process 10 may be included within orutilized by any social networking website.

Assume for illustrative purposes that user 36 attends event 156 (e.g.“baseball game with my boys”) and, while tending event 156, user 36uploads three digital photographs, namely digital photographs 158, 160,162. Data management process 10 may group digital photograph 158, 160,162 together (e.g. within event frame 164) to indicate that digitalphotograph 158, 160, 162 are all associated with event 156.

Referring also to FIG. 4, there is shown a diagrammatic view ofcomputing system 12. While computing system 12 is shown in this figure,this is for illustrative purposes only and is not intended to be alimitation of this disclosure, as other configuration are possible. Forexample, any computing device capable of executing, in whole or in part,data management process 10 may be substituted for computing device 12within FIG. 4, examples of which may include but are not limited toclient electronic devices 28, 30, 32, 34.

Computing system 12 may include microprocessor 200 configured to e.g.,process data and execute instructions/code for data management process10. Microprocessor 200 may be coupled to storage device 16. As discussedabove, examples of storage device 16 may include but are not limited to:a hard disk drive; a tape drive; an optical drive; a RAID device; an NASdevice, a Storage Area Network, a random access memory (RAM); aread-only memory (ROM); and all forms of flash memory storage devices.IO controller 202 may be configured to couple microprocessor 200 withvarious devices, such as keyboard 206, mouse 208, USB ports (not shown),and printer ports (not shown). Display adaptor 210 may be configured tocouple display 212 (e.g., a CRT or LCD monitor) with microprocessor 200,while network adapter 214 (e.g., an Ethernet adapter) may be configuredto couple microprocessor 200 to network 14 (e.g., the Internet or alocal area network).

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, the present disclosuremay be embodied as a method (e.g., executing in whole or in part oncomputing device 12), a system (e.g., computing device 12), or acomputer program product (e.g., encoded within storage device 16).Accordingly, the present disclosure may take the form of an entirelyhardware implementation, an entirely software implementation (includingfirmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or an implementationcombining software and hardware aspects that may all generally bereferred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.” Furthermore,the present disclosure may take the form of a computer program producton a computer-usable storage medium (e.g., storage device 16) havingcomputer-usable program code embodied in the medium.

Any suitable computer usable or computer readable medium (e.g., storagedevice 16) may be utilized. The computer-usable or computer-readablemedium may be, for example but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic,optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus,device, or propagation medium. More specific examples (a non-exhaustivelist) of the computer-readable medium may include the following: anelectrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computerdiskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory(ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flashmemory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory(CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a transmission media such as thosesupporting the Internet or an intranet, or a magnetic storage device.The computer-usable or computer-readable medium may also be paper oranother suitable medium upon which the program is printed, as theprogram can be electronically captured, via, for instance, opticalscanning of the paper or other medium, then compiled, interpreted, orotherwise processed in a suitable manner, if necessary, and then storedin a computer memory. In the context of this document, a computer-usableor computer-readable medium may be any medium that can contain, store,communicate, propagate, or transport the program for use by or inconnection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.The computer-usable medium may include a propagated data signal with thecomputer-usable program code embodied therewith, either in baseband oras part of a carrier wave. The computer usable program code may betransmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited tothe Internet, wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc.

Computer program code for carrying out operations of the presentdisclosure may be written in an object oriented programming languagesuch as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like. However, the computer programcode for carrying out operations of the present disclosure may also bewritten in conventional procedural programming languages, such as the“C” programming language or similar programming languages. The programcode may execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user'scomputer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user'scomputer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remotecomputer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may beconnected to the user's computer through a local area network/a widearea network/the Internet (e.g., network 14).

The present disclosure is described with reference to flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) andcomputer program products according to implementations of thedisclosure. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, may be implemented bycomputer program instructions. These computer program instructions maybe provided to a processor (e.g., processor 200) of a general purposecomputer/special purpose computer/other programmable data processingapparatus (e.g., computing device 12), such that the instructions, whichexecute via the processor (e.g., processor 200) of the computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus, create means for implementingthe functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram blockor blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in acomputer-readable memory (e.g., storage device 16) that may direct acomputer (e.g., computing device 12) or other programmable dataprocessing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that theinstructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an articleof manufacture including instruction means which implement thefunction/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer(e.g., computing device 12) or other programmable data processingapparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on thecomputer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computerimplemented process such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementingthe functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram blockor blocks.

The flowcharts and block diagrams in the figures may illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods and computer program products according to variousimplementations of the present disclosure. In this regard, each block inthe flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, orportion of code, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be notedthat, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in theblock may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, twoblocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantiallyconcurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverseorder, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be notedthat each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustrations,and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchartillustrations, may be implemented by special purpose hardware-basedsystems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations ofspecial purpose hardware and computer instructions.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularimplementations only and is not intended to be limiting of thedisclosure. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” areintended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearlyindicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms“comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification,specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations,elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence oraddition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations,elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

The corresponding structures, materials, acts, and equivalents of allmeans or step plus function elements in the claims below are intended toinclude any structure, material, or act for performing the function incombination with other claimed elements as specifically claimed. Thedescription of the present disclosure has been presented for purposes ofillustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive orlimited to the disclosure in the form disclosed. Many modifications andvariations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the artwithout departing from the scope and spirit of the disclosure. Theimplementation was chosen and described in order to best explain theprinciples of the disclosure and the practical application, and toenable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the disclosurefor various implementations with various modifications as are suited tothe particular use contemplated.

Having thus described the disclosure of the present application indetail and by reference to implementations thereof, it will be apparentthat modifications and variations are possible without departing fromthe scope of the disclosure defined in the appended claims.

1-21. (canceled)
 22. A computer-implemented method comprising:scheduling an event on a social network that is a group activity formultiple users of the social network; receiving an indication of a firstphoto being uploaded to a web-based resource, wherein a capture date anda capture time of the first photo being uploaded to the web-basedresource is during the event scheduled on the social network;associating a first object with the first photo; associating the firstphoto with the group activity based upon at least in part, on thecapture date and time of the first photo and an event date and an eventtime of the event scheduled on the social network; and positioning thefirst object within an event frame for the group activity in a graphicalrepresentation of a calendar on the social network.